INDEPENDENT MEDIA | Africa-India: Analyzing the Conditions and Stakes of a Win-Win Partnership

The
Indo-African partnership has been rooted in the spirit of the Afro-Asian
conference held at Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955. Cemented by a common stand
against colonization and racism, today this partnership is at a turning point
motored by the stellar economic growth in the two regions and the growing
exchange between them. The goal of shared development through cooperation
between the two regions is a perspective that is in line with the reduction of
world poverty as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Understandably,
the third edition of the Africa-India Forum Summit generates a lot of interest.
The Summit this year was much larger than in previous years, with participation
from 54 African countries. Participation in the previous two summits, held in
2008 and 2011, was limited to Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in accord
with the Banjul Agreement. The 2015 Summit has given greater privilege to
bilateral endeavours. That said, the implication of regional actors is an asset
of the India-Africa partnership and should continue, in the interest of
promoting regional development in Africa. Additionally, regional cooperation
provides a platform for opinion building and sharing common positions in
international organizations. Meanwhile, keeping the regional dimension alive,
the unprecedented levels of participation in the third Summit is an opportunity
to be explored. The scale of this Summit provides an occasion to renew and
further accelerate the India-Africa partnership.

This article
studies the stakes at play in the 2015 Summit and future perspectives on
cooperation between India and Africa. It is based on shared reflections of the
two authors hailing from Africa and India.

The African Perspective

Though rich in
natural resources, Africa accounts for three percent of total world trade.
Hence, enhancing the continent’s share in the world economy is a major stake.
In this regard, the Indian experience - with industrialization based on the
development of indigenous scientific and technical capital - is worth
exploring. Indian technology sells itself as adaptable and affordable.
Mangalyan, the Indian mission to Mars, cost $80 million; much less than the
$2.5 billion invested in the American mission Curisosity. The green revolution
in the 1960s, and the push for information technology in the 1980s, have been
major success stories of India’s brush with scientific and technological
development. An India-Africa cooperation that promotes economic and
technological exchange and the indigenous transformation of Africa’s natural
resources could be a vector for moving the continent up the global value chain.

The Diamond
Institute in Botswana has been one of the flagship projects in this direction.
In line with India’s initiative “Make in India”, a “Make in Africa” project
supporting local private sectors and employment generation should be one of the
pillars of the growing Africa-India partnership. John Kuffour, the former
President of Ghana, underlined that Africa’s strategy towards cooperation with
India should be based on “marrying African resources with Indian technology”.

Countries in
Africa should also negotiate better access to the Indian market. An equal
partner, Africa’s support is crucial to India when it comes to trade
negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO), climate change talks and
the expansion and reform of the Security Council. India’s duty free tariff
lines to Africa were revised in August 2014 to further boost trade with African
countries. In spite of the revision, which was raised to cover 98 per cent of
Indian tariff lines, Africa’s exports to India, especially agricultural, remain
low. The reason behind the dismal level of exports could be because products of
interest to Africa, such as coffee, tea, vegetables and spices are excluded
from the duty free market access scheme. India is either a direct competitor of
Africa in the above-mentioned products or is interested in protecting its local
producers. A rural and agricultural economy, domestic concerns, and the
interests of agricultural producers can have a direct impact on politics and
elections in India. It also has to be noted that most of the products covered
under the duty free market access scheme, including cashew nuts and aluminum
ore, are in India’s interest because the country processes and re-exports them
to developed countries. Therefore local processing and further expansion of the
duty free scheme are what countries in Africa should push for in their
cooperation with India.

When it comes
to security and strategic concerns, India should enhance its cooperation with
Africa in two domains. India could position itself as the principal ‘security
provider’ in the Indian Ocean region, which we call the strategy of the “Varuna
Triangle”. India’s readiness to contribute to UN peacekeeping missions in
Africa makes it one of the top contributors in this regard, as it provides
India with a good knowledge of the African terrain. This experience and
willingness can be capitalized and integrated into a security strategy designed
at the African Union level, in order to deal with security issues faced by the
African continent.

The federal
structure of the Indian republic also provides opportunities for decentralized
cooperation that countries in Africa could explore. For instance, South Africa
and Mozambique were participants in the “Vibrant Gujarat” forum launched by
Narendra Modi, the then chief minister of Gujarat and now India’s Prime
Minister.

The Indian Perspective

When it comes
to India’s future engagement with Africa, diversification is the word to go by.
The Export-Import (EXIM) bank of India is a major actor in India’s cooperation
with Africa. Though concessional credit lines by the EXIM bank require that 75
per cent of the goods and services be exported from India, there is an interest
for joint ventures with local partners in Africa. In Senegal, for instance, the
urban transport project in Dakar was conducted by a joint venture between Tata
India and Senbus, a Senegalese company. Similarly, the Senegalese programme of
self-sufficiency in the production of rice was supported by the supply of
irrigation pump sets by the Indian company Kirloskar, which again was working
with a local partner TSE Entreprises. For more sustainable cooperation, the
EXIM bank should continue the promotion of joint ventures in Africa for greater
local participation in projects, development of the private sector fabric and
for increasing employment opportunities in the country of operation. This has
to be reinforced through a diversification of Indian companies involved in the
EXIM bank operations in Africa.

Recently, an
article by P. Vaidyanathan Iyer (Indian Express, October 20, 2015) pointed out
that the contracts for most of the EXIM bank projects in Africa have been won
by three Indian companies: Angelique International, Lucky Exports and Jaguar
Overseas. This restricted number of Indian companies imposes multiple
limitations on cooperation between the two regions. It also points out the low
level of exchange and communication between decision-makers and enterprises
from Africa and India. A partnership limited to a handful of companies carries
the risk of nepotism, and a restricted transfer of technology and know-how. An
increase in the number and type of enterprises is crucial to the renewal of the
partnership, and the 2015 Summit should enhance interaction between Indian
companies and their African counterparts.

Annual or
triennial summits, which only privilege decision-makers and ‘big’ actors to the
neglect of smaller actors, do not engender a bottom-up relationship. A
diversification of actors and resources is integral to sustainable cooperation.
Decentralization, greater communication, enhanced engagement of small and
medium enterprises, and of federal states with the likes of the previously
mentioned “Vibrant Gujarat” forum, are a step forward in strengthening
cooperation at the grass-roots level. Trade between India and Africa also needs
to look beyond natural resources and raw materials to an emphasis on
manufacturing.

Indo-African
cooperation is often concentrated in the Anglophone regions of Africa, which
house the majority of the Indian diaspora in Africa. Mauritius and South Africa
occupy a position of privilege in India’s relationship with the African
continent. The partnership needs to be extended to other regions in Africa with
diverse linguistic profiles, in order to impart a new dynamic to the
relationship.

The TEAM 9
programme launched in 2004, which includes a diverse set of countries in the
West African region, sets an example for a future Indo-African relationship. A
holistic engagement with the whole of the African continent is an imperative
for an emerging India with global ambitions. Better communication and exchange
between the two regions could reduce the risk of isolation and conflicting
stands on issues of mutual benefit and shared interests and ideas.

In the last
round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, India stood almost isolated in
its stand on domestic food security in spite of a common position on food
subsidies with African and G33 countries. This is an instance of diplomatic
negligence by the Indian government in mobilizing a shared position and in the
chance to build consensus with its African partners on issues of common concern
at international organizations. Though India and its African partners back the
stand of differentiated responsibilities, there are incompatibilities in the
urgency to respond to climate change issues, especially with certain coastal
and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). The India-Africa
Forum Summit of 2015 would be an occasion for India to revise and formulate a
mutually convivial stand on the issue of climate change ahead of the summit in
Paris in December 2015.

"Rebranding" of Africa in Delhi

In the article
titled ‘Engaging with an aspirational Africa’ published in the Indian daily The
Hindu dated 19 October 2015, Sanjay Baru points out that one of the major
stakes for the Indo-African relationship is the way Africa is imagined and
projected in India. Africa as an equal partner and a ‘rising’ continent cannot
be subject to prejudice of racism and tags of the ‘dark continent’. India would
have to take a more proactive and clear stand against incidents of racism and
physical violence against Africans in India. These incidents are a blot on the
moral standing of the country, which has been pivotal in its relations with
Africa. A relationship which claims to build itself on “people to people
contact” needs a mutual effort by India and its African partners on raising
awareness about the continent in the minds of the Indian public, and in institutions
of higher education.

Conclusion:

Africa and
India have a lot to give and receive from each other. Separated by the caprices
of geology, Africa and India have been linked together by the humanist and
ideological solidarity and vision of their leaderships in the fight against
colonization and racism. Today, in the era of globalization this solidarity
should be reinvented in terms of mutual development and shared prosperity for
the well being of their populations.

About The Author:

Pooja Jain
and Alioune Ndiaye are co-founders of the Center for Research on the
Indo-African Partnership.